Paleontologists believe that vertebrates diverged from a lancelet-like relative sometime in the Cambrian period, which began 545 million years ago.
However, molecular studies of gene similarities between lancelets and today's vertebrates suggest that the vertebrate lineage
diverged 750 million years ago. Recent fossil finds do not resolve this
discrepancy. Haikouella, sliver-shaped lancelet-like organisms
that have eyes and probably have a primitive brain, have been dated to 530
million years ago. Recently discovered conodonts, previously classified into a
number of different phyla, seem to be full-fledged vertebrates, even more
similar to living jawed fish than to lampreys or hagfish. However, these fossils
date to 510 million years ago at the earliest.

Neanderthal baby attacks evolutionary
dogma

Stepping out 29,000 years from the past, a Neanderthal baby has taught
evolutionists a thing or two about human origins, and strengthened the case for
special creation. In a just published study, scientists extracted mtDeoxyribonucleic acid: the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms.DNA from a
Neanderthal infant skeleton found in
the northern Caucasus near the Black Sea and laid to rest any question of
whether Neanderthals could have been our ancestors. A previous study had examined a 397 Two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds.base pair Neanderthal Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA fragment and compared
it with a Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNAThe order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequenceof 986 One of the structural components, or building blocks, of DNA and RNA. A nucleotide consists of a base plus a molecule of sugar and one of phosphate.nucleotide pairs from living humans of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The
results showed an enormous 26 One of the structural components, or building blocks, of DNA and RNA. A nucleotide consists of a base plus a molecule of sugar and one of phosphate.nucleotideTwo nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds.base pair difference between the
Neanderthal and Human Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA (a 6.5% difference, which is almost as much as the average difference
between human Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA and chimpanzee Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA, which is 8.9%).
In this region of the Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA, modern humans differ from one another in an average
of eight Two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds.base pairs, and those differences were completely independent of the 26
observed for the Neanderthal fossil. In the current study, a 357 Two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds.base pairThe order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequence of Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA was
examined and found to vary from modern
human The order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequences at 23 bases (6.4%), nineteen of which were identical to those of
the first Neanderthal. A summary of the findings of the two studies can be found
in the table below:

Sequence Differences Between
Modern Humans and Neanderthals

Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA
Sample

The analysis of the infant's Deoxyribonucleic acid: the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms.DNA was extremely important, since it was dated
at 29,000 years ago - only 1000 years before the last Neanderthal disappeared. If Neanderthals and humans had interbred, one should have expected to see
this in the last remnants of the Neanderthals. In addition, since the two
Neanderthal fossils were separated geographically by over 2,500 km, it shows
that Neanderthals were a homogeneous species that was distinct from ancient
humans. In fact, the differences in Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNAThe order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequences compared to modern humans were so great that
calculations indicated that the last common ancestor between modern man and
Neanderthal must have been at least 365,000-850,000 years ago.

Little diversity among Neanderthals

Sequencing of a third Neanderthal specimen demonstrated that the three
specimens were closely related (differing by only a few bases) although they
were separated by over 1000 miles and died tens of thousands of years apart. Although the differences
between modern humans and Neanderthals are large (>6%),
the differences among individual humans or among individual Neanderthals is
small compared to other apes (see table below). Such low genetic diversity among
Neanderthals are consistent with a creation model in which Neanderthals were
specially created as a small population in the relatively recent past. The much
larger variation seen among chimpanzees and gorillas does not eliminate a
creation model, but does indicate that those creatures were created well before
modern humans.

Genetic material found in mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell.mtDNA Sequence Variation Among Species